Gay Men and Agg | Psychology Today

Contents:

• AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL
• CAN WE TALK ABOUT GAY MEN AND AGE GAPS?
• GAY MEN AND AGG
• COMG OUT AS GAY IN YOUR 20S, 30S & 40S

AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL

Many quiri I have received over and over aga through the years beg somethg like this: “I've always liked olr men, but many gay iends close to my age are cril of me and spic of my motiv. ” One young man said to me, “If I see a handsome gay man my age, he might jt as well have a vaga.

Var labels have been ascribed to tergeneratnal upl, whether straight, gay or bisexual: tergeneratnal, age-gap, age-discrepant, or, more often than not, “May-December” relatnships. Inially, I was unnvced the relatnships were ser, but that was bee I held stereotypil views: an olr gay man who was lookg for a trophy-mate and has the money to take re of his boy toy and a younger man who was lookg for a sugar daddy. Based on the number of tim this qutn drops to my mailbox, the reasons for the age-discrepant attractns nsum a great al of bandwidth the thoughts of a lot of young gay and bisexual men.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT GAY MEN AND AGE GAPS?

Was pletg his doctoral dissertatn, “May-December: Navigatg Life as an Intergeneratnal Gay Couple, ” he thoroughly rearched what proved to be the limed available lerature on tergeneratnal upl. Their work will fort men the double jeopardy of beg both gay and lovg someone much olr or younger.

Sce 1975, APA has lled on psychologists to take the lead removg the stigma of mental illns that has long been associated wh lbian, gay, and bisexual orientatns. The prejudice and discrimatn that people who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual regularly experience have been shown to have negative psychologil effects. This page provis accurate rmatn for those who want to better unrstand sexual orientatn and the impact of prejudice and discrimatn on those who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual.

GAY MEN AND AGG

In the Uned Stat the most equent labels are lbians (women attracted to women), gay men (men attracted to men), and bisexual people (men or women attracted to both sex). People n be celibate and still know their sexual orientatn—be lbian, gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. Different lbian, gay, and bisexual people have very different experienc regardg their sexual orientatn.

Some people know that they are lbian, gay, or bisexual for a long time before they actually pursue relatnships wh other people.

Prejudice and discrimatn make difficult for many people to e to terms wh their sexual orientatn inti, so claimg a lbian, gay, or bisexual inty may be a slow procs. There is no nsens among scientists about the exact reasons that an dividual velops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lbian orientatn. Lbian, gay, and bisexual people the Uned Stat enunter extensive prejudice, discrimatn, and vlence bee of their sexual orientatn.

COMG OUT AS GAY IN YOUR 20S, 30S & 40S

Intense prejudice agast lbians, gay men, and bisexual people was wispread throughout much of the 20th century.

Public opn studi over the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s routely showed that, among large segments of the public, lbian, gay, and bisexual people were the target of strongly held negative attus. More recently, public opn has creasgly opposed sexual orientatn discrimatn, but exprsns of hostily toward lbians and gay men rema mon ntemporary Amerin society. In fact, bisexual dividuals may face discrimatn om some lbian and gay people as well as om heterosexual people.

Severe antigay prejudice is reflected the high rate of harassment and vlence directed toward lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals Amerin society. Numero surveys dite that verbal harassment and abe are nearly universal experienc among lbian, gay, and bisexual people.